Showing posts with label crying and praying. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crying and praying. Show all posts

March 7, 2018

Mark 1333: truth and integrity matter

Today I am sad to be reminded how human mind can be so limited that we tend to forget the big picture when the enemy lures us to pick on the nitty gritty of stuff he displays with a fanfare, dangling like a carrot in front of the donkey’s nose. I really cannot believe my ears when I watch the current campaign of a popular young (in age comparatively) yet veteran (in terms of two decades of being an elected representative) politician who represents hope and justice in a small nation. He performs well and I fully agree with the pertinent economic and legal issues he raises about his country’s political scene. But he made a slip when he commented on the election of the greatest nation in the world.

I am disappointed that he did not do a thorough study (being an obviously brilliant oratorial lawyer) on the other nation before he passed that comment on the final choice of the presidential candidate. No doubt he intended to make the point that every vote mattered as around 40% did not vote. He omitted to mention the fact that 62,979,636 voters had voted for the winning candidate. He also erred in making the presumption that the 40% dormant votes could have been in favor of another candidate!

I pray we all become more responsible and careful with our words. Globally. I have readers from nearly all the nations of the world who have internet access and those who read the downloaded articles sent to them by their loved ones. I do not presume to know all but I maintain my belief that the truth and each individual’s integrity matter. In my seven decades of life on earth I have come to the conviction and conclusion that each word we speak really matters. A person’s word may not influence others but it does speak to oneself and leads one to believing in deceptions that harm oneself and even others. I do agree with the young politician that every vote counts. So it is time to register your vote and turn out to vote with the care that it may mean a life and death matter to you and your loved ones, and the survival of your people and nation.

The Bible verses that I received today are from Jesus in Mark 13:33-37, “Be on your guard [constantly alert], and watch and pray; for you do not know when the time will come.
It is like a man [already] going on a journey; when he leaves home, he puts his servants in charge, each with his particular task, and he gives orders to the doorkeeper to be constantly alert and on the watch.
Therefore watch (give strict attention, be cautious and alert), for you do not know when the Master of the house is coming—in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrowing, or in the morning—
[Watch, I say] lest He come suddenly and unexpectedly and find you asleep.
And what I say to you I say to everybody: Watch (give strict attention, be cautious, active, and alert)!
a portraitIt’s common to wonder what causes someone to be a sociopath as we watch in disbelief as the sociopath lies, manipulates, harms, and feels no empathy for anyone. Trying to teach empathy and emotion to a sociopath is like trying to teach a cellphone to cook a pizza. If it sounds ridiculous to teach a phone to cook a pizza, it’s because it is. A phone isn’t wired to cook, and it’s not bothered by this fact. Likewise, a sociopath’s brain isn’t wired to feel empathy or other emotions, and like the phone, the sociopath isn’t bothered about it.
Quoted from an answer in Quora about dating a sociopath: She will lie about almost everything, and if you ever call her out on it, she will deny it vehemently…to the point where you start to question yourself and your own memory.
She will create a LOT of drama. She will…
View original post 1,678 more words

October 28, 2016

Dutch Sheets’ sharing to Christian voters, pastors, believers

For the Christian believers:
Please read the following (quotes/excerpts) from:  Opinion  Watchman on the Wall  Dutch Sheets Shares Prophetic Insight for Church Dilemma Over Elections. (presented by Jennifer LeClaire, senior editor of Charisma)
Dutch Sheets, internationally-known best-selling author, speaker and founder of the Appeal to Heaven Movement, has an important message for the church as voters prepare to head to the polls…
“…How long will it take to recover from two to five … lifetime appointees to the Supreme Court? Decades! If she appoints five, which is feasible, she will have single-handedly appointed over half the Supreme Court and will have given the liberal non-constitutionalists a 30- to 40-year, 7–2 majority advantage! (There is one vacancy now, and of the other eight justices, the three oldest are 77, 79 and 83; two more are in their late 60s.) Then there are the several hundred lifetime federal judges she would appoint. … has already appointed nearly half of our federal judges—all liberals—and … would appoint the other half. This entire scenario is unthinkable! If all this occurs, these over-reaching, legislating ideologues will finish the job of decimating everything you and I stand for. America as we have known it may then be gone forever. We have less than three weeks to stop this.”
“…To see how Trump would actually lead, I would challenge you to look at those with whom he has surrounded himself: Pence; Carson; Huckabee; Giuliani; Christie; Gingrich; Palin; trusted generals; law enforcement officials; border patrol officials; evangelical leaders of all races; and otherwise, ethical, conservative leaders. What does this tell us? It is probably the greatest indicator of who Trump now is, clearly making the case that he has changed his moral ways over the past 10 years, as he claims.
“I personally believe he has changed. I also believe God has gripped his heart for the nation, and is in the process of further transforming Mr. Trump. God has certainly allowed him to be humbled.
“…Perhaps a better way for the disenchanted to approach this election is to vote against someone. I would suggest to you that voting against a candidate is a good reason to vote! “Neutrality” is not a valid option at this critical crossroads in history. The times demand that we make a stand! If not for, make your stand against the following:
Vote against the foolish, selfish, shortsighted, establishment … fighting to maintain their power.
Vote against an immoral, ungodly … Party. To those who take issue with this characterization, don’t forget that they booed God at their convention in 2012.
Vote against an unelected, unaccountable, over-reaching, out-of-control judiciary that believes it has the right to reshape America.
Vote against the unethical, biased, lying and untrustworthy media. We will never reclaim America until we reject their influence. They may be the single greatest obstacle to America’s recovery.
Vote against a weakened military.
Vote against a loss of national sovereignty and a one-world government.
Vote against open borders.
Vote against policies that enable radical Islamist terrorism.
Vote against the removing of our 2nd Amendment rights.
Vote against higher taxes.
Vote against Obamacare.
Vote against the redefining of marriage. It is not too late to reverse this.
Vote against abortion-on-demand, partial-birth abortion and Planned Parenthood with its selling of babies’ body parts.
Vote against liberalism and progressivism.
Vote against the silencing of the church. Only the totally naïve do not see this coming quickly.
Vote against revising our history and the loss of our Judeo-Christian heritage.
Vote against the politicization and exploitation of racism and the polarizing of America.
Vote against the slandering and weakening of law enforcement.
Vote against the politicization of the Justice Department, the FBI and other important departments of government. Both departments are now undeniably and shamelessly used for political purposes and to oppose Christians and conservatives.
Pastors, if you’ve ever made a stand, make one now—it may be your last chance. Tell your people the truth clearly. Pray and fast! Turn your services into prayer meetings.
To all believers, if you agree with what I have written, forward it to all of your friends and family members.  Most of them hear only from a hypocritical, lying media, which is now the propaganda arm of the liberal agenda. Speak up. Appeal to them to read this and think about it.
And vote!
Vote for a future, one that includes what you love and believe in. Trump has flaws, but … will be fatal.
Sincerely,
Dutch Sheets”
Note: The following Bible passages from the Book of Ezra are added by this watchman. The Bible verses are taken from Ezra 7 (in parts) New King James Version (NKJV)
The Arrival of Ezra
…in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, …this Ezra came up from Babylon; and he was a skilled scribe in the Law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given. 
The king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him.
…9 On the first day of the first month he began his journey from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him. 10 
For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.
The Letter of Artaxerxes to Ezra
11 This is a copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave Ezra the priest, the scribe, expert in the words of the commandments of the Lord, and of His statutes to Israel:
12 Artaxerxes,[a] king of kings,
To Ezra the priest, a scribe of the Law of the God of heaven:
Perfect peace, and so forth.[b]
13 I issue a decree that all those of the people of Israel and the priests and Levites in my realm, who volunteer to go up to Jerusalem, may go with you. 14 And whereas you are being sent by the king and his seven counselors to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, with regard to the Law of your God which is in your hand; 15 and whereas you are to carry the silver and gold which the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose dwelling is in Jerusalem;..18 And whatever seems good to you and your brethren to do with the rest of the silver and the gold, do it according to the will of your God..20 And whatever more may be needed for the house of your God, which you may have occasion to provide, pay for it from the king’s treasury..21 And I, even I, Artaxerxes the king, issue a decree to all the treasurers who are in the region beyond the River, that whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the Law of the God of heaven, may require of you, let it be done diligently,
23 Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it diligently be done for the house of the God of heaven. For why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons?
24 Also we inform you that it shall not be lawful to impose tax, tribute, or custom on any of the priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, Nethinim, or servants of this house of God. 25 And you, Ezra, according to your God-given wisdom, set magistrates and judges who may judge all the people who are in the region beyond the River, all such as know the laws of your God; and teach those who do not know them. 26 Whoever will not observe the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be executed speedily on him, whether it be death, or banishment, or confiscation of goods, or imprisonment.
27 Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to beautify the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem, 28 and has extended mercy to me before the king and his counselors, and before all the king’s mighty princes.

-->
So I was encouraged, as the hand of the Lord my God was upon me; and I gathered leading men of Israel to go up with me.

2024 Advent Deeper Christmas Devotion Day 7: Whom did Jesus come to heal?

Jesus was born for this. The Bible is full of stories of the downs and outs. Crowds thronged Jesus, including the rich, the famous and the p...